Time's Surprise
by DragonReader99
Summary: What happen's when post-season 3 Arthur and Gwaine are catapulted into a time in which magic has been legalized in Camelot? Confusion and mayhem, mostly. This story is mostly set post A Knightly Surprise and it's impending sequel. Season 3 or 5 AU. Magic reveal/ already revealed.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.

This is in my _A Knightly Surprise_ universe, but it's almost an AU of that AU. It's post AKS, but it really isn't going to affect that universe.

Past Arthur and Gwaine are from the gap between seasons 3 and 4 (Uther is alive, Morgana has betrayed everyone, and Arthur is a Prince). The future/main part of this story takes place post AKS.

I will be writing both this and Resemblance Recognized. I'm still planning a sequel to AKS.

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Prince Arthur rolled the strange artifact around in his hands. He had been seated in the castle's war chamber wondering whether or not it was time to install a round table when several knights had entered. Sir Leon had been leading a patrol that morning when he had come across a sorcerer terrorizing a small village. The sorcerer had been killed in the chaos, and the knights had found little other than an hourglass in his possession.

Gaius had been immediately called, of course, but he could offer no explanation as to what it was. The hourglass had appeared to be nothing more than an hourglass, though its black sand seemed odd to the prince.

Arthur had been pondering the morning's events for most of the day. He hated that sorcery was still terrorizing his kingdom, but he could no longer place all of the blame on the shoulders of magic users. His recent increase in duties after Morgana's betrayal had forced him to face many hard truths. His father would have told him to send out a squadron of knights and soldiers to further purge magic from the realm. For once, Arthur had been glad that he was the one making the decisions. More innocents did not need to die.

"Hello, Princess," Sir Gwaine announced himself as he entered the room to sit at the table with Arthur. The Prince was going to have to do something about the nickname. "I heard that Leon had an interesting time this morning."

Arthur set the hourglass on the table and Gwaine leaned forward. "Any idea why a sorcerer would be carrying this on him?"

Gwaine picked it up and turned it over in his hands. "Is it magical? Of course not. You wouldn't be touching it if it were." He seemed to be speaking more to himself than anything.

"We don't actually know if it's magical, so you should put it down before something happens!" Arthur commanded his knight. He immediately regretted his words, as Gwaine like nothing more than to disobey them. Arthur groaned when Gwaine grinned.

"I'm quite careful, Princess, don't worry."

"Why don't I believe you?"

"Well, I haven't been to the tavern recently, at the very least."

Just then, the glass slipped from the cocky knight's hands. Arthur rolled his eyes as it crashed to the floor and sand spilled everywhere. His reprisal was cut short, though, when the sand began to swirl across the ground and into the air.

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King Arthur grinned across the Round Table as Elyan and Gwaine bickered over who was more favored by the ladies at court. Things in Camelot had finally settled down, most of the surrounding kingdoms had accepted his recent legalization of magic, and there had been very little trouble across the lands. It was Merlin's theory that the mages around the kingdom were so grateful to be free that they were taking care of any little issues that might spring up without prompting.

All of the round table knights were present, Mordred included, in addition to the queen. Merlin, however, was absent. The Court Sorcerer had gone to meet a group of druids who would be entering the city tomorrow to join the market. There was much that people had bought from the druids before the purge that they now had to do without. Merlin was intent on changing that, so he would be leading the druids into the city the next morning and keeping the peace in case any of the few remaining magic haters chose to act out.

"That's enough, both of you!" Gwen chided the two arguing knights. "You're both very well-liked among the ladies at court. Does it really matter?"

Gwaine and Elyan nodded emphatically after glancing at one another. "It's an extremely important question, Gwen," Gwaine said with a straight face.

"Maybe Emma can help," Elyan exclaimed with a grin. "She does spend a great deal of time with the ladies."

Lady Emily, or Emma, was a close friend to many of the knights as well as to the king and queen. Arthur truly did admire her strength, both mental and physical. Incidentally, Emma was also Merlin's fiancée.

Arthur began speaking before an argument could break out. "I would first like to thank all of you for your parts in helping Camelot to avoid war of any kind," Arthur told them. "Many people look up to my knights for guidance, and your peaceful acceptance of magic was more than I could have asked for. That being said, we must continue to remain on alert to prevent evil users of magic from tearing down the kingdom. The market day tomorrow is going to be a true test of peace in our city."

"The druids have come to markets before," Percival interrupted. "They've been given very little trouble."

Arthur nodded. "As you know, more than a few are coming tomorrow. Merlin didn't have exact numbers, but there are going to be many of them."

"They're going to feel more comfortable using magic openly," Gwen realized. Previously, though druids had attended market days, they hadn't flaunted their magic.

Golden symbols swirled their way across the table to an empty seat, and Arthur looked at the door just as it opened to admit Gaius. "You sent for me, Sire?" the physician asked as he walked over to the table.

The King nodded. "I was wondering whether anything of note had been found in the vaults." Arthur had tasked Gaius with looking though the vaults for any treasures which had been unfairly taken from the druids.

Gaius nodded. "I found two particular pieces which should be returned to their rightful owners. Several others, however, need to be kept under lock and key."

"What is that?" Gwen asked as Gaius set an hourglass filled with black sand on the table.

"I'm not certain, Gwen," Gaius admitted. "I couldn't identify it when I came across it, and I was planning to take it to my chambers for further study. Uther simply threw anything that possessed magic into the vaults without care for its properties, and I, for one, find that to be an extremely dangerous practice."

Arthur reached out for the hourglass in order to get a better look just as a blinding whirl of blackness shadowed the room. It lasted only seconds, but it disappeared to reveal two figures sitting in the middle of the table.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.

Yay! Second chapter. I'm writing this as well as Resemblance Recognized at the moment, so updates are slowing down since I'm writing two stories. Enjoy!

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Arthur reached out for the hourglass in order to get a better look just as a blinding whirl of blackness shadowed the room. It lasted only seconds, but it disappeared to reveal two figures sitting in the middle of the table.

Everyone immediately jumped up and rushed to the king and queen, swords drawn. Leon and Elyan pulled Gwen back several feet while Arthur and the others prepared for attack. Mordred stood slightly to one side in order to cast spells if necessary. Legalization of magic or not, strangers appearing out of thin air spelled trouble.

To the king's surprise, thought, the newcomers immediately scrambled off of the opposite side of the table. They also drew swords, but their stances indicated defense rather than offence. It was only then than he looked at their faces. One appeared to be Gwaine while the other was himself. They weren't quite mirror images, though. They almost seemed to be too young.

"Who are you?" King Arthur demanded. "Impersonating me is considered to be treason."

"I could say the same to you," the other Arthur called back across the room. The king noted that this newcomer's sword wasn't Excalibur. "What sorcery is this that's brought us here?"

"If I may?" Gaius asked. He had removed himself to the side of the room. The king noted that he didn't seem particularly alarmed. "I believe that our new friend is you. He appears to be you from somewhere around a decade ago, actually. The same for Gwaine there."

"What makes you say this, Gaius?" the king asked. He kept his eyes trained on the two strangers as he spoke. They remained where they were, clearly outnumbered and disoriented.

"I had suspected that the hourglass had something to do with time, but I was uncertain. From other knowledge, I had assumed that a spell would have had to be used to make it do anything, so I am uncertain as to what has happened."

"I may have broken something similar to that a few minutes ago," the younger Gwaine offered. The younger Arthur elbowed him to be quiet.

"There we are, Sire," Gaius concluded. "That hourglass has properties which allow its users to traverse time. It's entirely possible that the damage done to the one from their time caused some part of its enchantment to break free and send them here."

"Are you telling me that that man is me?" the king clarified.

Gaius nodded. "Take a look at the table as well." Arthur saw that two new seats had been labeled by Merlin's enchantment. "Both are symbols for foreigner and friend."

The king lowered his sword. "Wait," the younger Arthur commanded. "I don't believe you. Yes, it seems that I've traveled forward in time, but you, whomever you are, have missed one very important detail. I would never trust someone based on magic."

"Exactly," the king responded as he resumed his seat at the table. The queen and knights followed suit. "I trust people based on who I know them to be."

The younger Arthur glared while his Gwaine was glancing around the room curiously. "We don't want any trouble. Just let us leave, we'll return to our kingdom and forget this ever happened."

"This is your kingdom!" the king argued. "And you cannot leave."

"Tell me then," his younger counterpart asked, "how do you plan to send us back to our own time? I refuse to believe that magic is the only way to send me home. Let us leave."

"I believe it is," Gaius insisted.

The king sighed. "Sit down," he commanded them. Reluctantly, the two newcomers took their seats, shying away from the swirling gold of the tabletop. "Where is he?" Arthur asked Mordred.

The young knight and mage shook his head. "They must have been delayed on the road," he explained. "I haven't heard from him yet. He believed he had until tomorrow, so they probably weren't rushing to get here."

"I've had word that a few of the roads washed out last night," Leon added. "They probably had to detour around several parts of the road."

"I'm not saying that I believe you," young Arthur said, "but who is it that you're talking about."

The king hesitated. "An advisor that I believe would be extremely helpful to us in this case," he finally stated. It wouldn't do to scare his past self any more than necessary.

"Could you tell us how far in the past you've come from?" Gwen asked.

The newcomers seemed to finally realize who the queen was. "Gwen?" the young Gwaine asked disbelievingly.

"What?" the younger Arthur asked. He seemed shocked.

"Answer the question," Leon told him.

The younger Arthur shook himself. "I'm still a prince. Morgana has just betrayed Camelot, and we managed to retake the city several weeks ago. I see that the men I decided to knight have remained loyal."

"Is that about eight years?" Elyan asked.

The king nodded. "It seems like so long ago."

"We really need… your advisor," Gwen stated.

"I know," King Arthur agreed. "We also need to let him deal with tomorrow's events, though."

"If you keep them out of trouble, I cannot imagine that this cannot wait a day," Gaius suggested.

"And just where should we keep them?" the king asked. "I would let them stay in," he hesitated. "A certain place, but that's going to end in disaster once they figure out whose tower it is."

"What's going on here?" the prince asked. "What can have changed so significantly in eight years that you have to lie to yourself? Who is it that you feel can help us?"

"My Court Sorcerer," King Arthur finally answered. They were going to find out about it soon anyway. "I legalized magic about a year ago."

"That's not possible," the prince snapped as he jumped up from his seat. The younger Gwaine looked quite alarmed as his companion drew a sword.

The rest of the knights in the room also drew swords, though they didn't move from their positions around the table. Everyone but Gwen, Gaius, and the younger Gwaine were on their feet once more. "Sit down!" the queen ordered. The king and prince both immediately obeyed. "This is an unfortunate situation, but you will all get along. The guest chambers in the northern tower are empty right now, so they'll stay there until… our Court Sorcerer arrives."

"Do we get any say in this?" the younger Gwaine asked.

"None," the older Gwaine answered.

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King Arthur awoke the next morning with a start as he realized the previous day's events hadn't been a dream. The prince and his Gwaine were currently under the guard of the Knights of the Round Table in the northern tower. It was very late by the time they had managed to sneak the newcomers across the castle, so everyone had simply gone to bed despite the prisoners' protests.

"Arthur!" a voice hailed him as he walked down the hallway. He turned to see Emma hurrying to catch up with him.

"You're back early," he greeted her in surprise.

She nodded and took his offered arm. "My father had some business to take care of, so I decided to return to Camelot a few days early."

"And you missed your fiancé."

"And I missed my fiancé," she agreed. "However, said fiancé is busy right now."

Arthur laughed. "I'm very sorry, Emma, but he's going to be busy for a while."

Emma groaned. "What now?"

"Did you know that people can travel through time?"

She raised an eyebrow as Arthur directed her toward the northern tower. "Did Gwaine put you up to this? I'm not going to believe everything you tell me."

"No, but this is absolutely his fault." Arthur and Emma climbed a set of stairs before entering one of the chambers in the northern tower. Gwaine's unmistakable laugh was audible.

"Gwaine's down by the stables!" Emma said in confusion.

"Yes, he is," Arthur agreed. "Oh, we've only told them that we have a Court Sorcerer. Let's not give his name just yet." Emma's look of confusion was quite entertaining. He opened the door an ushered Emma inside.

"Fine, I believe you." Prince Arthur and the younger Gwaine were seated around a table with Leon and Elyan.

"Hello, Sire," Gwaine called out. "I've just discovered that Leon's terrible at dice even in the future!"

At least he was in good spirits, the king thought to himself. "How are the two of you doing? Gaius is researching the problem as we speak, and he'll have more help later today."

"Physically, we're fine," the prince replied. The king could sense something hard in his tone, though. "I'm still having trouble believing that you're me, however. I would never legalize magic!"

"Yes, actually, you would," the king responded.

"Where's the queen?" the young Gwaine finally asked to break the tension. "I see you have a different woman on your arm this morning." He winked very dramatically, and Emma broke down in peals of laughter. Prince Arthur didn't seem to know how to react while King Arthur just sighed.

"You rascal," she admonished him once she had stopped laughing. "I'm Merlin's fiancée. Lady Emily Woodland."

Gwaine's expression of shock was almost comical, but the prince just scowled. "Very funny," the prince said. "However, you're a lady, so you wouldn't be marrying a servant."

"You married a servant, Arthur. Don't be so shocked."

"And I made the right choice. I cannot believe that your father would allow this, though. Hold on, does Woodland even have a daughter?"

Emma's reply was cut off as Mordred entered the room. "You called for me, Sire?" he asked.

The king nodded. "Yes. Prince Arthur, I'm not sure whether you realized this in the shock of yesterday, but there was one knight present whom you probably didn't recognize."

"I had assumed that he was simply a squire during my time," the prince replied.

"Not exactly. Prince Arthur, meet Sir Mordred."

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Oooooooh! Prince Arthur's meeting his first sorcerer of the day! How will it go?

Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.

Sorry about the delay in posting. School.

Merlin's finally going to show up. Yay!

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"Prince Arthur, meet Sir Mordred."

The Prince's jaw dropped. "It can't be," he said as he stood up from the table and walked toward the knight.

"It's been almost a decade," Mordred reminded him.

The king was relieved to see that the prince seemed more surprised than angry. He was sure that his younger self wouldn't have taken well to knighting a druid.

"Wait a moment," the prince said. The king sighed. "You're a druid! Why would I ever knight a druid?"

"Why would you ever save one's life?" Mordred asked with a raised eyebrow.

The prince just turned away and sat back down at the table. King Arthur felt rather bad for his younger self. It was a lot to take in, and things were about to get a lot worse once Merlin showed up.

"Mordred," the king said. "Could you let the Court Sorcerer know to come here once the market day is over? I'm assuming he's somewhere in the city."

"Of course, Sire," the young knight replied.

"You have magic?" the young Gwaine asked.

"I am a druid. Many of us do," Mordred answered him. "It's come in handy quite a bit as a knight of Camelot."

Gwaine just looked impressed, though the prince looked like he wanted to disappear. "Okay. I have to deal with a few matters today, so I cannot stay here," the king said. "Leon and Elyan are going to stay here with you, and I'll hopefully be back with help in a few hours." He turned to look at Emma. "You're welcome to stay if you would like."

"I believe I will," Emma replied, looking curiously at the newcomers once again.

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Prince Arthur watched himself- the king- leave the room along with the druid knight, and had to fight the urge to bang his head against the table. Magical time travel was bad enough, but the place he had ended up in was even worse. Looking around the room, he saw the he was left with his Gwaine in addition to future Leon, Elyan, and Lady Emily. He turned his attention to her as the shock fully set in. "You're marrying _Merlin_?" he asked incredulously.

The lady nodded. "I'm quite happy about it," she beamed.

"We're talking about the same Merlin, right?" the young Gwaine asked. Elyan laughed. "Don't get me wrong, he's great, but I never quite pictured him ending up with someone like you."

"I'm insulted, Sir Gwaine," Lady Emily teased with an unfamiliar familiarity, deliberately misunderstanding. "Of course I'm good enough for Merlin."

"I'm just going to stop talking now," Gwaine complained.

The prince was suddenly distracted by another thought. "Lady Emily," he asked. "Where's Merlin. I haven't seen him at all since we've arrived."

"Don't worry," she told him. "He'll show up eventually. You'll probably see him today."

"He's really busy right now," Leon agreed. "I honestly don't know when he sleeps."

"The life of a servant isn't that bad," the prince disagreed. "He's been managing just fine as long as I've known him."

No one really responded to that statement, and the prince strongly suspected that they were hiding things.

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Not much else happened for the next few hours. The prince and his Gwaine weren't allowed out of the room. Leon and Elyan hadn't been very forthcoming with information either. Arthur just wanted to know why no one would tell him about Merlin. It was early afternoon, and Lady Emily had been gone for about an hour when the door finally opened again. The prince looked up to see Lady Emily and Guinevere carrying several laden trays into the room.

"Lunch," Emily announced. Elyan and Leon cheered.

"You don't have servants now that you're queen?" Arthur asked as the two women set their trays on the table.

Guinevere rolled her eyes. "Of course I do, but I can't exactly let them in here, now can I?" she replied.

The prince clenched his fists. "That wouldn't be an issue if you people would just fix this already! I want to go back to my time where things make sense!" he growled.

"Stop complaining, you prat," a new voice chided from the doorway. The prince turned to see what was unmistakably Merlin standing there. "Just be happy you're stranded among friends."

Lady Emily ran over to wrap her arms around… her fiancé? That was just strange. Merlin looked a little surprised. He must not have noticed her while he was looking at the newcomers. Arthur took his own time to observe his servant while the man was distracted in Lady Emily. Merlin was still as thin as ever, but it seemed as though he might have finally put on a small amount of muscle. Perhaps he had gained some sort of talent in the past decade. He still had the same grin, and the same mischievous look in his eyes, though there seemed to be an air of confidence about him that Arthur had only ever seen in brief instances.

Merlin wasn't wearing his usual care-worn clothing, though. Perhaps he had finally worn it out. He had a simple outfit on, though Arthur would have bet that the cloth was of higher quality than most servants wore. The blue cloak he wore also stood out. Though it was simple, it was a peculiar style that the prince hadn't seen before. Perhaps fashion had changed in the past decade.

"Where's the king, Merlin?" Guinevere asked. It took a moment for the prince to realize that she wasn't referring to his father.

"I was just talking to him. He had to talk to one of the council members, but he should be here." Merlin was cut off as the door swung open once again.

The king strode into the room and glanced around. "Good, everyone's here," he said. "Merlin, do you know if Gaius found anything?"

Merlin nodded. "He finally figured out what spell was put on that hourglass, but we haven't had time to find a way to counteract it," the servant replied- was he still a servant? The prince suddenly noticed that Merlin was staring at him. "This is so strange," Merlin said. He walked over to the table where the prince was sitting. "You're Arthur, but not."

"We're feeling the same way, mate," the younger Gwaine stated with a laugh. Nothing could darken that man's mood! "Do you want to tell us about your fancy new getup? A gift from your lady-friend perhaps?" He gave a large wink and Lady Emily started laughing.

"You really haven't changed, Gwaine," she giggled.

"I may not have changed, but it seems Arthur certainly has. What do you think about all of this legal magic in Camelot, Merlin?"

Prince Arthur was surprised at the question at first, but then he realized that he had wanted to ask the exact same thing. It was strange, but he was used to depending on his clumsy servant's judgement in strange situations.

"Um…." Merlin hesitated.

"I apologize," King Arthur cut in. "You haven't been properly introduced. Prince Arthur, Sir Gwaine, meet the Court Sorcerer of Camelot."

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I will continue to write this story and Resemblance Recognized. Hopefully updates will come more often. They will be completed.

Reviews are love!


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